Education Episodes

If our mission is to help people, everyone, answer the most important question, what can I do? Then at some point we need to talk to the people who help really wealthy people, help people. So today's question, what can I do about high net worth philanthropy? And look, hey, maybe you're among the vast majority who just heard that and you're like, well, this one doesn't apply to me, but hear me out. We have some of the worst billionaires of all time, but if billionaires are gonna continue to exist...

If the American Revolution was, as Ken Burns put it, the biggest event since the birth of Christ, then there's probably never been a better time to explore and drastically expand on why it happened, who was involved, and what it set us up for than right now. My guest today again is David Schmidt. David is the producer and co-director, along with Ken Burns and Sarah Botstein , of American Revolution , a six-part, 12-hour series premiering on PBS this November. David is a childhood friend, but two...

I've recorded hundreds of conversations with incredible people working on the front lines of the future. People who've asked the most important question: what can I do? Who found their answer and followed it. But for today's conversation, we're going back to the front lines of the past because the past can tell us a whole hell of a lot about today and how tomorrow might go. But only if we tell the full story of how we got here, about who got us here, about how my great-great-grandparents got her...

Turns out it's our 200th episode. It has been a journey. The show is now called The Most Important Question, and I can't think of a better answer than just fucking run for something. What can I do about anything? Run for something. And so obviously the best guest to answer that question, is returning guest, Amanda Litman . If you are new here, she is the co-founder and president of Run For Something, which recruits and supports young, diverse progressives running for down-ballot office, state an...

One of the ways this Trump administration is different from the last is, relatively at least, how much more unconstitutional, how much more organized and comprehensive the attacks on our institutions, particularly the scaffolding we built for ourselves the most precious parts of of our societies: immigration, agriculture, the VA, NIH, the CDC, the NSF and humanitarian work around the globe. Do some of these need reform? Of course, they do. Is this the way to do it? No, it is not. These instituti...

What's the missing link in local journalism? That's today's big question, and my guest is Lyndsey Gilpin . Lyndsey is the Senior Manager of Community Engagement at Grist. Lyndsey was the founder and executive editor at Southerly , a nonprofit media organization that equipped people who face environmental injustices and are at most at risk of climate change effects with journalism and resources on natural disasters, pollution, food, energy, and more. It was very groundbreaking, and now she's brou...

Is multisolving the future? Is it today? Should we do more? That's all today's big question and my guest is Dr. Elizabeth Sawin . Dr. Sawin is the Founder and Director of the Multisolving Institute , which is convenient for our conversation. She's an expert on solutions that address climate change while also improving health, well being, and economic vitality. She developed multisolving to describe such win win win solutions. Beth writes and speaks about multisolving, climate change, and leaders...

I think about time a lot. Some days I feel ancient, some days I can’t believe how old I am. I’ve got kids, too. I can’t believe how fast they’ve grown up already. They love so many things. Swimming. Cooking. Plain pasta. The beach. Vegetables, somehow. Their friends. Their family. Dinosaurs. Man, oh man, do they love dinosaurs. I love to challenge them, to help them think about how long ago it all was, and how long it lasted. How different the world was. How the land under their feet was an ocea...

What can we learn from trees? That's today's big question, and my guest is Dr. Beronda Montgomery . Beronda's a transformative writer, researcher and scholar who pursues a common theme of understanding how individuals perceive, respond to and are impacted by the environments in which they exist. She recently moved from Michigan State University to Grinnell College where she's a professor of biology and Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the College , which is perfect because I can't...

How does innovation actually work? That's today's big question, and my guest is Christopher Mims . Chris is a journalist for the Wall Street Journal , and I had him on the show in 2021 to understand how he asks big questions. Chris is constantly asking questions about the most pressing technological and societal issues we face from robot trains to the future of batteries, brain implants, and whatever happens to land in between. And his thesis is this: every little bit counts. And innovation is m...

How do we reimagine capitalism in a world on fire? That's today's big question, and my guest is Rebecca Henderson , Harvard professor behind the wildly popular class "Reimagining Capitalism". I had Rebecca on the show in 2020 to discuss her book of the same name and her research, which explores the degree to which the private sector can play a major role in building a more sustainable economy, focusing on the relationships between organizational purpose, innovation, productivity, and high-perfor...

How can I be a better ancestor? This question has haunted and inspired me since way back in 2019 when I first read the Optimist's Telescope . A beautiful, helpful, inspiring book by Bina Venkataraman. Then I had Bina on the show. I think it's fair to say it reframed and focused my work and now all of our work here . You simply cannot be a better ancestor by hoping shit gets better in posting black boxes on your Instagram stories. You have to do the work for today and tomorrow. If you want your d...

Let's talk robots. But first: There’s a very particular bottleneck where groundbreaking science is more applicable than ever but inaccessible to many. The tools are unaffordable to the schools and groups who could use them to hook kids right when they’re most excited, kids with a huge variety of lived experienced, who have grown up in the climate era, and in the COVID era, who see and want to solve problems they can touch and feel – but because of costs and access, they never get to try . Or the...

I think about time a lot. Some days I feel ancient, some days I can’t believe how old I am. I’ve got kids, too. I can’t believe how fast they’ve grown up already. They love so many things. Swimming. Cooking. Plain pasta. The beach. Vegetables, somehow. Their friends. Their family. Dinosaurs. Man, oh man, do they love dinosaurs. I love to challenge them, to help them think about how long ago it all was, and how long it lasted. How different the world was. How the land under their feet was an ocea...

There’s no word for “conservation” in many Indigenous languages. Some come close, but mean something more like “taking care of” or “looking after.” And that’s probably because the very idea of conservation, to “prevention the wasteful use of a resource”, would have been, and continue to be, foreign to many of North America’s Indigenous peoples, who lived in an entirely different, co-dependent relationship with nature. That is to say, to have had a relationship at all. A relationship with the ver...

In Episode 127 , Quinn wants to know just how the hell “innovation” actually works. His guest is Christopher Mims, a journalist for the Wall Street Journal, who’s spent a career asking big questions about the most pressing technological and societal issues we face, from robot trains to the future of batteries, brain implants, and whatever happens to land in-between. The thesis: every little bit counts, and it’s more predictable than you think. Or is it? Together, Quinn and Chris explore the team...

In Episode #123 , Quinn gets a masterclass on Snapchat AND running for office with RFS co-founder, returning guest, and our favorite human alive, Amanda Litman ! Amanda’s helped thousands of progressive young people run and get elected to office across the country. Now, she’s here to tell us how Snapchat can further save democracy, thanks to its fancy new partnership with her org. Snap it! (I don’t know if that’s what the kids say -- I’m so sorry) Have feedback or questions? Tweet us , or send a...

In Episode 116 , Quinn wants to know: why is simply giving people money the most effective way to 1) help them make positive changes to their lives and 2) erase global poverty along the way? To help him understand the answer, he brought on Caroline Teti and Michael Faye from GiveDirectly . Caroline Teti (or just Teti, as she likes to be called, we swear) works on the ground in Kenya, Nairobi, handling recipient advocacy for GiveDirectly’s global operations. She’s our new favorite person, sorry M...

In Episode 113 , Quinn asks: What can we learn from plants? The answer, it turns out, is: A whole heck of a lot. Our guest is the wonderful and way overqualified Dr. Beronda Montgomery -- PhD, writer, researcher, scholar, and author of “Lessons from Plants.” Dr. Montgomery’s dedicated her work to understanding how individuals are impacted by their environment. Life as a human is hard . I mean, that’s why we open every episode with the question, “Why are you vital to the survival of the species?”...

In Episode 100 , Quinn & Brian discuss: Why state elections matter not just for your state but for the future of our planet. Our guests are: Aimy Steele & Amanda Litman. Aimy is a candidate for the North Carolina House of Representatives in District 82, a mother of five, a former Spanish teacher, and a former K-12 principal. Amanda is the co-founder and Executive Director of Run For Something, a PAC that is recruiting and supporting young progressives who want to run for state and local election...

To continue our Good News series, we’re looking back to Episode 78 , when Quinn & Brian discussed: Planning for chaos . (Cheery, right?) For real, though. This episode offers an actionable, helpful, revealing, and — dare we say it? — PLEASURABLE way of looking at the world. And that perspective comes from the delightful Bina Venkataraman , author of The Optimist's Telescope and the Editor of The Boston Globe’s editorial page. Fair warning, so you don’t get upset like Brian did: this is not a rea...

In Episode 77, Quinn & Brian discuss: How Colorado can fix this wholllllle thing with one little election. Our guest is Mike Johnston, a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate from Colorado and the first in our series of conversations about the 2020 elections. The 2020 Senate elections are going to be really important because flipping the Senate is one of the only protections we might have from another four years of a Republican President – or, if we want to think a little more optimistically,...

In Episode 60, Quinn & Brian discuss: Why YOU should run for something in 2020! Our guest is Amanda Litman , the co-founder and Executive Director of Run For Something, a PAC that helps recruit and support young diverse progressives to run for down-ballot races in order to build a bench for the future. They aim to lower the barriers to entry for these candidates – which could and should be you, unless you’re a white guy (because we have plenty of those) – by helping them with seed money, organiz...

Back in Episode 37, Quinn & Brian asked: Why does Congress need a female Air Force Officer / Engineer / Chemistry Teacher / Mom among its ranks? We found out – and now our guest Chrissy Houlahan is the new congresswoman from Pennsylvania District 6! So we’re playing that episode again to celebrate. We dig into the very personal reasons she ran, what’s so special about Pennsylvania, and the first thing she’s going to do when she gets elected. Plus, how did she collect such an impressive list of b...